Sparks center Cameron Brink condemned former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom for his behavior that got him removed from a WNBA game this week while also declaring her support for transgender women.
Kanter, who recently claimed he is eligible for the WNBA draft because he declared himself a transgender woman, was removed from the Chicago Sky’s game against the visiting Indiana Fever at Wintrust Arena on Sunday after he confronted Sky guard Natasha Cloud.
He has been banned by the Sky from attending Wintrust Arena.
“Personally, I think when it comes to the trans issues, I think it’s a non-issue, and I think it’s people trying to just come for the trans community, and I just don’t stand for that,” Brink said before blasting Freedom, whom she said is “just trying to stay relevant.”
Brink then added: “I think people are tuned in for the right reasons, and it’s great that we can all talk about things that are important and hard and even have your own opinions on that. But I think taking something that’s a non-issue right now and just trying to use it for clickbait or for views for likes, and then targeting a vulnerable community, is just really low.”
Brink, 24, has previously expressed support for transgender athletes, saying in an interview with Dime Magazine in 2024: “Some of my teammates go by they/them pronouns. I want to bring more acceptance to that and not just have people support us because of the way that we look.”
In an ESPN profile in July, Fever guard Sophie Cunningham said she did not support transgender women playing women’s sports, referring to them as “biological men.” Since then, Kanter and fellow former NBA player Royce White have claimed they should be eligible for the WNBA draft.
The WNBA ruled both players ineligible, according to Front Office Sports.
The WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement includes only a single line addressing gender eligibility, stating in Article XIII, Section 1(a): “Only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA.”
Several other players have spoken out against the ire directed at transgender women, including Cloud, the Valkyries’ Gabby Williams and Storm’s Stefanie Dolson.
There is currently no transgender athlete playing in the league.
NEW YORK — Sabrina Ionescu scored 20 points and the New York Liberty avoided one of the biggest collapses in WNBA history, holding off the Sparks 85-81 on Thursday night.
New York (21-14) led 69-41 early in the fourth quarter and looked poised to cruise to an easy victory when the Sparks scored 21 straight points to get within striking distance.
The Sparks (12-21) only trailed 82-79 with 26.6 seconds left and were in position to match the Chicago Sky for the biggest comeback in league history. The Sky rallied from 28-down to beat Las Vegas in 2022. Rae Burrell got the Sparks within one on a reverse layup with 22 seconds left. Ionescu hit two free throws with 14.8 remaining to restore the three-point advantage.
The Sparks had one last chance, but Ariel Atkins missed a three-pointer from the wing with seven seconds left and Ionescu hit a free throw with 3.2 seconds left to seal the win.
The Sparks also lost Cameron Brink earlier in the fourth quarter. She helped key the game-changing run, drawing an offensive foul on Breanna Stewart. Brink was down on the floor for a few minutes before being helped to the locker room with a towel over her head. She took a shot to the stomach area from Stewart to get the offensive foul called. A few minutes earlier Brink and Burrell banged heads.
Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said Brink was being evaluated by doctors after a “brutal hit to the ribs”, but didn’t have an update other than that.
Cameron Brink controls the ball during the first half against New York on Thursday.
(Elsa Garrison / Getty Images)
Burrell finished with a career-high 28 points.
New York got a scare in the third when Ionescu left the game. She went down awkwardly after playing defense and quickly grabbed her right foot. She subbed out soon after and jogged up the tunnel back to the locker room area. She returned about four minutes later on the game clock to a nice ovation from the crowd.
Jonquel Jones was a big reason the Liberty built a 49-32 lead at the half with 10 points and 12 rebounds. New York extended the advantage to 26 after three quarters and 69-41 before the Sparks rallied.
New York was still playing without Leonie Fiebich and Satou Sabally. Coach Chris DeMarco said that there’s no timetable on Fiebich’s return and that Sabally, who has been sidelined for over a month with a concussion, was away from the team.
Up next for the Sparks: at Washington on Saturday.
The Sparks couldn’t build off of Sunday’s win Wednesday and dropped to seven games under .500 with a 95-88 loss in Chicago. It aligned with the story of the 2026 Sparks, where being fully competitive has been just out of reach except for a few flashes.
A decent middle of the game was overwhelmed by a bad opening and closing. Chicago scored 33 points in the first quarter and 34 in the fourth to keep the Sparks from fully closing in. Dearica Hamby led the Sparks with 22 points and 13 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season.
The Sparks (11-18) fell into a 15-point hole in the first after Chicago rattled off five three-pointers. The Sky (12-19) led 48-38 at the half.
“In the first quarter, we came out a little flat,” coach Lynne Roberts said. “I don’t know why. We were just reacting to everything, and I felt like the fourth quarter was a little bit of that. We had a couple bad minutes stretch where they went on a run, and then defensively just kind of died in the fourth.”
Behind a 10-2 open to the third quarter, the Sparks took a brief lead for the first time and entered the fourth with a 62-61 lead after holding the Sky to just 13 points.
Cameron Brink scored 11 points with six rebounds despite earning her fifth foul early in the fourth quarter. Before the game, Roberts noted that she would like to get more minutes out of Brink, and avoiding foul trouble is part of that.
“I got to figure out the fouling,” Brink said. “I have to be more reliable. It’s disappointing. I’m disappointed in myself tonight, but we get to play tomorrow.”
Chicago went on a 13-5 run after Brink, who also blocked three shots in her 14 minutes, left the game to retake a nine-point lead that would hold for the rest of the game.
“We were getting stops and playing in transition, which is when we’re good,” Hamby said. “And then I think when Ariel [Atkins] kind of got hit, it kind of slowed us down and stopped momentum.”
Atkins (eight points, three assists) took a hit to the ribs in the fourth quarter and didn’t return. Roberts said after the game that she was being evaluated by the medical staff.
Monique Akoa Makani, making her Sparks debut after being acquired in the Kelsey Plum trade Sunday, entered the game in the first and made her first shot attempt. She finished with three points and two assists while shooting one-for-five in 16 minutes off the bench. She got some time with the closing lineup while Atkins was out of the rotation.
The second-year guard projects as a shooting guard, Roberts said before the game, and is one of the Sparks few long-term pieces on such a veteran-heavy roster.
“She played hard,” Roberts said. “She’s still learning the ropes. It’s tough to go out there and in a close game be asked to execute stuff. We’ll figure out how to use her where she’s more comfortable, but it’s just going to take time. But I think she gave us everything she could tonight.”
Roberts also noted she would like to limit Erica Wheeler’s minutes going forward, and that was an area Akoa Makani can help the rest of the season. Wheeler played 24 minutes Wednesday — Roberts said she’d like to keep her under 25 — and scored 14 points with five assists.
The Sky were without their leading scorer, rookie Sydney Taylor, but were powered by 15 points and nine assists from Natasha Cloud. The Sky’s 53% from the field was their second-best shooting percentage of the season.
With Washington’s win against Dallas on Wednesday, the Sparks could not gain any ground in the playoff race. Chicago now owns the tiebreaker with a 2-1 season series record and is as many games behind the Mystics, dropping the Sparks further down in the standings.
Phoenix lost on Wednesday to stay a game behind the Sparks.
The Sparks turn right around Thursday night and face league-leading Minnesota (25-6).
“We have some things to figure out,” Brink said. “But we’re not losing hope. We’re just figuring stuff out right now.”
There’s no reason to watch them even though there’s more than a month left on their schedule. Again.
For the sixth consecutive season, one of the WNBA’s legacy franchises has come apart at the seams, tattering the franchise’s three-championship history with a sordid record that mandates a clear response.
Trade your best player.
Trade Kelsey Plum.
The trade deadline is Sunday so do it quickly, and do it boldly, sending her to the sort of playoff contender who would find her worthy of young talent and draft picks.
Trade KP and do it now.
Yes, her 25-point scoring average would rank second in the league if she had not missed half the games with injuries.
Truly, she is arguably the team’s biggest attraction with the sort of Hollywood flash that overshadows even Nneka Ogwumike.
Indeed, the hard-nosed ballplayer elicits more screams and sells more tickets than any other Sparks player.
Trade her anyway. Swallow hard and make it happen. Out of a million reasons, here are just three.
First, her contract expires at the end of the season and she reportedly does not want to spend her prime years on a losing team. Can you blame her? Trade her before you lose her for nothing.
Nneka Ogwumike shoots over Chloe Bibby of the Chicago Sky during a game this month.
(Geoff Stellfox / Getty Images)
Second, at age 31, she is the team’s most valuable asset, and would command a high price among contenders looking for a shooter with a championship pedigree.
Third, this would be a powerful first move in a season-ending tank job.
You read that right. The Sparks should tank. They should tank hard. Tank, tank, tank. They should do anything it takes to have the best chance at nabbing the first pick in the 2027 draft and a chance to take USC phenom JuJu Watkins. The pursuit of Watkins, who will need to be convinced to give up her final year of college eligibility, should be the organization’s most important priority.
Anything for JuJu, and that includes trading Plum. While they’re at it, could they also please dump the massively disappointing Ariel Atkins and Erica Wheeler? Those two busts were part of the Sparks’ ill-conceived attempt last offseason to build a veteran team that could immediately compete.
It didn’t work, and now the Sparks have only four players who should be welcomed back next year — Cameron Brink, Rae Burrell, Dearica Hamby and Ogwumike.
Without Plum, Brink can have more space to work inside. Without Plum, Burrell can score 25 points a game. It’s a tank, but it’s not necessarily an ugly tank.
Cameron Brink is pressured by Indiana Fever guard Lexie Hull during a game in May.
(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)
Their replacements might be anonymous shadow dwellers, but that’s OK. The Sparks need to not hire college wonders — no Cori Close — and enlist some good old-fashioned WNBA veteran thinkers and evaluators and leaders.
The Sparks basically need to start from scratch, and it starts with a major move sometime in the next five days.
Trade KP.
Please?
“We pushed in a lot of chips this year, and we had good reason to do that, but the reality is it hasn’t gone as we’d hoped or expected,” said Farhan Zaidi, special advisor to Sparks’ owner Mark Walter. “Now we have to be open for anything. Everything has to be on the table for us. We have to take a long-term perspective rather than focusing on the rest of the season.”
In other words, the trade light is lit!
Zaidi wouldn’t comment on specific players or club personnel, only to note that the Sparks cannot grow as constituted.
“We have to be realistic where we are,” he said. “We don’t want to be that team stuck in the middle.”
In other words, keeping Plum might give them a few more wins, but to what end? They contend for the final playoff berth only to fall short? And if they make it, how long would they last against a powerhouse like Minnesota? For a big-market, win-now team like the Sparks, mediocrity is a death knell.
Zaidi trusts that Sparks fans will understand, and I agree.
Their growing fan base is as smart as they are passionate. They understand that to break this losing spell, the Sparks will have to break with franchise tradition and basically give up on this season to build hope for the next.
My daughter and fellow season-ticket holder MC was quick to react when I told her I was going to advocate trading Plum.
The Sparks should trade Kelsey Plum before she walks away as a free agent.
(Aryanna Frank / Getty Images)
“Write it,” she said. “I want hope.”
Zaidi thinks other fans will agree.
“We have very smart fans, I don’t want to patronize them as to where we are,” he said. ”Our dedicated fans will understand if we have to take a step back to get to that championship level. I can step back if I feel like we’re building something.”
Zaidi noted, “I think it can happen quickly.”
He’s right. In a league in which a team like Golden State can contend for a title in only its second season, in a space where both of this year’s expansion teams — Toronto and Portland — can have better records than the Sparks, rebuilding doesn’t take much.
If the Sparks get some young talent and draft picks for Plum, then sign a top free agent by using the construction of their new practice facility as a selling point… who knows?
The Sparks need to do whatever it takes to become the Sparks again.
MINNEAPOLIS — Cameron Brink scored 10 points in her first game since June 15, but it wasn’t enough to list the Sparks past the host Lynx on Wednesday afternoon.
Kayla McBride scored 24 for her fifth straight 20-point performance, Courtney Williams added 19 points, and the Minnesota beat the Sparks 96-87 to record their fourth straight victory. The inconsistent Sparks have dropped back-to-back games since firing GM Raegan Pebley.
Minnesota went on a 19-3 run, scoring on 10 straight possessions, to take a 63-56 lead with 2:36 left in the third quarter.
McBride made her first three-pointer with four minutes left in the fourth for an 84-74 lead. Nia Coffey banked in a 3-pointer on the Lynx’s next possession for an 11-point lead.
Minnesota went 8 of 14 from 3-point range in the second half after missing 11 straight before halftime. Six of those makes came from different players.
Minnesota rookie Olivia Miles had 18 points in 26 minutes for Minnesota (19-6). Miles went to the floor with 6:03 left in the fourth and she did not return after appearing to roll her ankle on a driving layup.
Rae Burrell scored 24 points, and Nneka Ogwumike had 23 points, 12 rebounds and five assists for the Sparks (10-13). Los Angeles turned it over 20 times, leading to 30 points for Minnesota. Sparks point guard Kelsey Plum remains sidelined with a lower left leg injury and is expected to be re-evaluated next week following a four-week recovery.
It was never actually in doubt. Dearica Hamby was going to stay a member of the Sparks. That was just how she worked.
Even when Nneka Ogwumike came into the fold and the frontcourt became crowded, Hamby didn’t doubt her decision to return to the organization that traded for her four years ago.
Loyalty mattered more than anything else.
“That’s who I am,” she said. “I don’t run away from things. I wanted to stay here and help L.A. get back to where it was and is capable of being.”
In a loaded frontcourt, the 32-year-old Hamby has still found ways to shine. Hamby has led the Sparks in scoring four times and led or tied for rebounding 16 times this season after signing a three-year, $3.5-million contract.
She ranks in the top 20 in the league in rebounds and field-goal percentage (plus 25th in scoring) and is eighth in offensive rebounds in establishing herself as an essential piece to the Sparks’ “win now” attempt.
“I think it’s the challenge, because we are so good and we have so much talent,” said Hamby, who is averaging 14.8 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists while shooting 52.8% from the field. “You’re forced to produce, but it’s also a blessing. I know it’s probably hard for coach to manage the three’s playing time and stuff like that, but it’s a beautiful problem.”
Hamby was in the headlines when the Aces traded her after she was pregnant. In September of that year, she filed a federal discrimination complaint against the team and league, claiming she was traded because she was pregnant. The two sides resolved matters before trial.
The new CBA this year created a new rule that requires a pregnant player’s consent to be traded.
“I feel like she’s such an anomaly,” said forward Rae Burrell. “I remember when she had her son, and it was crazy because everybody was saying she was coming back so early, I thought that was insane, but now being her teammate, I see it, she’s just kind of a freak of nature, like she’s so athletic, she can do all types of things on the court that you think looks unorthodox, but she makes it happen, but also just love being her teammate. She’s just good people.”
Since that trade, she has been a regular in the Sparks’ starting lineup while averaging double-digit scoring and around eight rebounds per game. She’s one of the most efficient scorers in the league, too.
But Hamby’s games have been all over the board. Against the Aces, she missed all seven of her shots. Against Dallas and Indiana, she made six of eight shots. She’s had eight games with a shooting percentage above 60% and four games under 40%.
Sparks forward Dearica Hamby, left, tries to steal the ball from Mercury forward DeWanna Bonner during a game in Phoenix.
(Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
Having the three frontcourt players has been an adjustment for coach Lynne Roberts to find how to implement them all in the offense.
“I’m trying to implement the new offense, we’re plugging pieces into play, and things that I may have been able to do last year as freely I’m not as able to do this year,” Hamby said. “So just adjusting for sure, but I think that’s across the board for everybody.”
Before the season, Roberts said that Cameron Brink would come off the bench and Hamby would start. Brink, the only natural center on the team, averages just 17.5 minutes per game primarily because of her 3.7 fouls.
“She’s my vet,” Brink said of Hamby. “I think she’s just such a grounding force for us, and she’s someone that does everything, so I just really feel like I learn from her every day, and I’m just very thankful to be in her presence.”
Hamby averages 3.2 fouls per game and has expressed frustration about the new officiating norms this season, but has avoided true foul trouble. She and Ogwumike work as two fours instead of a team with a traditional five.
“She has a lot of energy,” Ogwumike said. “I think she does a really good job of just having a high motor and going out there and kind of like doing the dirty work. I feel like it’s beneficial to have a loaded frontcourt, to be able to have so many different types of players and a depth where anytime one of us is in, there’s no letdown.”
The Sparks have been the worst defensive team in the league this season and struggled to score when point guard Kelsey Plum was out of the lineup with an ankle injury. Ogwumike might be the other veteran leader, but Hamby has stayed with this Sparks team the past two seasons while Ogwumike was in Seattle.
Now her role has changed, even with that loyalty. She’s playing just over a minute less and they’re asking for better defense and efficiency.
Hamby chose to come back. Now she’s choosing to help build the Sparks up.
“I know my usage is a lot lower,” Hamby said. “A goal of mine the last two seasons was to have those numbers, so to have the same numbers just at a more efficient rate, and so I mean offensively, but with like two fewer shots a game, that’s pretty impressive.”
Cameron Brink said she’d appreciate some grace. She really would.
Sparks fans should give her some, because where else is she going to get it?
Certainly not from WNBA refs. Not from opponents with more to play for than ever. Certainly not from the game itself; basketball moves fast, and a bummer can become a bust in a blink.
But Brink, 24, is not on the brink of bust territory, no. Block that thought. Technically, it’s Year 3, but after a torn ACL derailed her as a rookie two summers ago, it’s practically like Year 2 for the former Stanford star. And by design, the WNBA is testing her confidence, her decision-making and her patience as she tries to reestablish herself as one of the WNBA’s best young players.
So, grace.
The recognizable 6-foot-4 forward — she’s the long-blond-haired hooper in the New Balance ads — was the No. 2 overall pick in 2024.
Now she’s her team’s No. 3 option in the post. She’s coming off the bench behind Nneka Ogwumike and Dearica Hamby for the Sparks, who are a modest 6-6 after wins this week over the expansion Portland Fire and the struggling Seattle Storm.
Against the Fire, Brink scored two points and picked up four fouls in nine minutes. Then she went to Seattle and had 15 points in 18 minutes but was pulled with more than five minutes left in the fourth quarter after getting her third, fourth and fifth fouls in 86 seconds. (WNBA players get six fouls before being disqualified.)
For the season, Brink has been called for 49 fouls in 208 minutes. A foul about every four minutes!
They’re silly fouls and they’re phantom calls. Egregious and ticky-tack. Costly and common. A real fouled-up buffet. She sets screens that get scrutinized as if by the most vigilant TSA agent. And sometimes, yes, she’s doing the accidental tripping. Other times, the officials are.
Her reputation precedes her, so everyone gets a superstar’s whistle when being defended by Brink. Opponents bake it into their game plans.
That can’t continue.
All that fouling is hindering Brink’s development because it’s robbing her of important in-game reps — which she needs, foremost, to figure out how to stop fouling.
Sparks forward Cameron Brink, left, blocks the shot of the Tempo’s Laura Juskaite during a game last month.
(Jeff Lewis / Associated Press)
“At the pro level,” said Tara VanDerveer, Brink’s coach at Stanford, “every young player always has a lot of work to do. And I saw her make a three. I see her block shots. She rebounds, she can handle the ball, she’s unselfish, she’s a terrific talent. But there’s always things players need to work on.”
We know what Brink’s thing is.
“She has to be disciplined,” VanDerveer said. “And if you want something so badly, if you want to be an All-Star someday or make the Olympic team, you’ve got to be dependable … and I think anyone can change, if it’s behavior they recognize is not in their best interests or not in their team’s best interests. It’s hard, but it’s something I think people can do.
“That’s what Cam is working on.”
And, VanDerveer added, “I’m really so excited that Nneka is there, because she will give her such great guidance and mentorship.”
And grace. Brink is getting that from Ogwumike — also a former Stanford star, the Sparks legend returned to L.A. this season after two seasons in Seattle — and her other teammates.
“I just do my best to lead by example,” Ogwumike, 35, said. “But then also let [Brink] know that she’s very capable, that she’s more than capable, which is exactly why she’s here with us and it’s exactly why we need her on this team.”
Sparks forward Cameron Brink, wearing a facemask, controls the ball while defended by Sun forward Raegan Beers.
(Joe Buglewicz / Getty Images)
But how long will Brink get grace from the Sparks in the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately business of basketball?
The foul trouble tells us why a win-now team wouldn’t trust her, why the Sparks would give meaningful minutes to two veteran post players ahead of her. Why they wouldn’t prioritize Brink’s development alongside winning as they strive to snap a previously unthinkable five-year playoff drought.
And what about fans? How patient will you all be with a player who was drafted immediately after Caitlin Clark and five spots in front of Angel Reese?
These days, that might depend on what the parlay calls for.
Or, preferably, whether you remember Brink’s first 15 WNBA games. All starts, all signs pointing to stardom. She showed up in 2024 throwing lavish block parties. Her 2.3 blocks per game were message-sending spikes, like what Lisa Leslie used to enthrall Sparks crowds with.
From the jump, she had guys coming to games at Crypto.com Arena wearing her No. 22 jersey and little girls arriving in groups with No. 22 painted on their cheeks and “I love Cam Brink” signs in hand.
And then the torn ACL cost her 25 games of her rookie season and another 25 last season, plus her spot on the United States’ Olympic 3×3 women’s basketball team in Paris in 2024.
She had to start over. Lost a lot of ground. But you see that masked woman stuck on the Sparks’ bench for all but 17 minutes per game?
You can’t miss her. She’s looking uncomfortable in protective facial gear that either hinders her breathing or her peripheral vision, her only options to protect the torn septum she suffered in a victory over the Las Vegas Aces last month.
She’s the one with the 6-8 wingspan who’s averaging 9.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks while shooting 52.1% from the field in her limited minutes.
She’s still Cameron Brink. Between fouls, she’s fluid and fast and covers more of the court than almost anyone in the WNBA, able to leap from defending guards to centers in a single bound.
“It’s just looking at every day as a new opportunity to learn and grow and not getting too bogged down when things don’t go exactly as you planned,” Brink told me. “Because more times than not, things are not going to go how you want them to. And that’s life. So I just want to be able to put my best effort out there every single night.
She knows what the Sparks need from her: “To perform, just come on the floor and compete.”
